Improvement in vent-plugs for beer-barrels



Parentednec. 29, m74.

1. A. Nunn.

Vent-Plugs; for Beer-Barrels.

Wz'Zma-s ses:

JOSEPH A. NUNN, or ROCHESTER, nEw YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN VENT-PLUGS FOR BEER-BARRELS.

Speciication forming part of Letters Patent No. 15S,303, dated Dicember 29,174; application tiled December 3, 1874.

T0 all whom it may concern:

Beit known that I, JOSEPH A. NUNN, of the city of Rochester, in the county of Monroe and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Vent-Plugs for Been Barrels 5 and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the construction and operation of the saine, sufficient to enable those'skilled in the art to which it appertains to construct and make use of the invention, reference being had to the drawings accompanying this specification, and to the ligures and letters ot' reference marked thereon, in which like letters refer to like parts throughout the specitication, and on which- Figure l represents a plan ofthe invention. Fig. 2 represents a vertical section through the line c', Fig. l. Fig. 3 represents the ventplug with the ventvport facing outward. Fig. 4 represents the vent-plug, havin g the transverse perioration, shown sidewise.

My invention relates to a vent-plug for a bung to a beer-barrel; and its object is, as the barrel is being lled, to provide for the escape of the air, and', as the liquid is drawn oli, to provide for admitting the-air, the

same to be ldone without escape or loss ot'V the liquid, and thereby rendering an uninterrupted and easyilow both for the ingress and egress oi' the same. It consists, iirst, in a screw-plug having its inward and lower end sloped or tapered to lit a seat and port in the bottom of the bung; second, in a vertical boreV or tube lengthwise ot the plug through its center, and intersecting with a transverse perforation or borein the lower part of the plug, for the purpose ot' admitting, or the escape ot, the air as it passes by the tapered end of the plug through the aperture provided for the saine in the bottom of the bung, as hereafter more fully described.

In the stave s of a ready-iliade barrel is inserted the bung-bush B, O11 top of which is the rubber washer r, having the metal bung A screwed down on the top ot' the washer. lnto the center ofthe bun g, from the top, and penetrating to within about one-fourth of an inch of the outside bottom ofthe same, is bored about a one-half-inch socket, s, having' its lower portion, t, tapered inward and downward to about one-eighth of anl inch in diameter, from which point to the outside bottom of the bung the bottom is pierced, making an-oritce, 0, and thereby eecting an entrance to the cavity ot' the barrel. A screw-thread is cut on the interior surface of the socket s, preparing it for the screw-plug P, on which is cut a screwthread corresponding with that on the socket. The lower portion ot' the plug is tapered so as to tit its seat t in the lower portion ofthe socket s, and its point is shaped to tit the orice o in the bottom of the bung, which is effected for the seat t and the oritice o by the method called a ground-joint,77 producing a perfect protection for the contents of the barrel against the ingress of air or escape of gas, as may be necessary. Between the taper and screwthread, on the lower portion of the plug, there is left a straight space, c, of about one-eighth of an inch wide, for a transverse perforation, c, of about the same diameter as the width of the space. From the top ot' the plug, and intersecting with the said transverse perforation, is a vertical bore, c', of' the same diam eter as the transverse perforation o, thus, by means of the vertical movement of the screw-plug, formin g a connection between the outside and inside of the barrel for admitting air, or Vthe escape of gas, as desired.

'To operate my improvement, the bush and bung being regularly inserted, the plug P is placed in position, and, by means of a screwdriver, is turned down to its seat t, closing the orifice 0 and the barrel against `the ingress or egress of air. By turning the plug backward with the screw-driver, the plug is raised out ot' its seat t, and, in the process of lling the barrel, the air, in escaping from the same, enters the orifice o and passes around the end ot' the plug as the plug is raised from its seat t, and at the same time enters both ends of the transverse perforation c, and meets at the intersection of the vertical bore o and perforation c, and then passes up and out ofthe vertical bore o', when, by the same means, the

plug is turned down to its seat, hermetically securing the cont-ents ot' the barrel. In the same manner, on drawing oft' the liquid, by raising the plug as before, the conduits are opened and the air flows in through them unlil they are required to be again closed, when, by the same means, the ports o, c, and c are closed, as desired.

By this construction the interior of the barrel is more perfectly secured against the iugress or egress of air than by an yother method operated by an elastic rubber valve, because, irst, the valve being of a iiexible material, and attached only by one edge, it is liable to displacement, and becomes inoperative; second, when the barrel is empty and laid aside for future use, all elastic valves become dry, shrivel, contract, andare hard, consequently leak and are useless. It is more'perfectly secured than by any vent-plug which passes the air in or out at the side of the plug, because it has a less number of ports, and is, therefore, less liable to get out of repairfand, as in my vent-plug the air passes out and in through the length of the body of the plug and escapes at the top of the port, the port is more easily protected, and so more convenient.

What I claim as my invention, and wish to secure by Letters Patent, is-

In combination, the vent-plug I), provided with the vertical bore v, intersecting With the transverse perforation v, the tapered plu g-seat t, and, in the bottom of the bung, the orifice o, arranged for the purposes substantially as shown and herein described.

In testimony whereofl I have hereunto set my hand on this 28th day of November, A. D. 187 4.

JosEPH A. N'UN. 

